Secrets of Sanctuary
by AnarchyGunRage
Summary: REPOSTED-The Survivors meet Stefanie, Nikki, Ronnie, Xeno, Dupree, Chuck and Zack; a group of more normal people...or they atleast seem normal. OC Warnings. Special thanks to my co-writer, SexyBrunetteZombieKiller.
1. Chapters 1 and 2

**Note from the Author:  
Long story short, this story was gone before and now it's back. lets leave it at that.  
Left 4 Dead characters belong to Valve.  
Some OCs belong to me and my co-writer Zoey. (Sexy Brunette Zombie Killer is her pen name)  
**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 1-REVISED

"HOODIE DUDE!" Ellis shouted, breaking the silence as the Hunter flew towards him. Blood rained to the cement pavement and the Hunter landed on his face at Ellis' left side with a sick smack. With a click, Rochelle cocked her shotgun to let the empty shell fall, obviously being the one to incapacitate said infected. She reloaded more ammo into the gun only to freeze at a symphony of screeching. It could only mean one thing.

"Holy shit!" Rochelle exclaimed. "This one's huge!"

...

Meanwhile, not far at all, a motley crew of seven were convened taking out zombies as easily as you would squash a fly in search of supplies. They had chosen a safe-house to call a home and stayed there. Shells fell to the ground every two seconds from the amount of ammo being used, but they could easily find more.

They were starting to think there were no people alive in the city when they heard yelling.

"Cool! More zombie fights!" Chuck exclaimed. Stefanie listened to the distant commotion. "They can't all be zombies...I can hear some perfect English out of it."

"Better English then my Grandmother can speak." Xeno stated. "Come to think of it...Those Smoking dudes speak better English than her..." Nikki laughed in response, shaking her head. "And that's pretty bad."

Stefanie was the only one really listening to the commotion going on not far from them. Her body went into action when she heard a Southern voice call for help. "Come on, guys." She said, taking off as adrenaline pumped through her veins. "Let's go help!"

"Good ol' noble Steffi." Xeno said, sarcastically. "Always willing to help anybody anywhere, zombie or not..."

"Fine..." The redhead growled in annoyance. "I'll go by myself. Meet you all back at home."

...

Nick, Ellis, Coach and Rochelle, overwhelmed by the zombies, stood their ground atop a car. "I'm not gonna die in this city!" Nick yelled as he started swinging the butt if his gun at the coming infected, knocking them off of the car only to have more zombies climb up to take its place.

"I'll tell ya what would be real bad right now..." Ellis spoke.

"Ellis! No! You idiot!" Nick yelled cutting poor innocent Ellis off.

"A Tank" he concluded in a carefree voice. As if right on cue, a Tank lumbered his way to the foursome, roaring in rage and tossing cars and yelping zombies out of his path. Ellis' eyes went as large as dinner plates. "OH LORDY THATS A BIG ASS TANK!" He screamed, jumping over petrified zombies to run towards an alleyway. "RUN! RUN! RUN!"

"If we live through this, I'm GONNA FREAKING KILL HIM!" Nick shouted as the other three took off in another direction. He saw the looks he got from Rochelle and Coach once they were safe. "YOU'RE ALL THINKING IT!"

"Nicolas!" Rochelle gasped. "Ellis is only a boy!"

"He's 23 freaking years old, Rochelle!" Nick yelled. "Stop standing up for him!" He then stopped mid-thought to listen. "Where'd the Tank go? Did someone shoot it?"

"Oh no!" Rochelle exclaimed. "It must have gone after Ellis! There's no way he can kill it by himself"

"Well...He'll be missed." Nick said, clapping his hands together in the old 'job well done' fashion. "Let's go."

"Nick!" Coach exclaimed. "How could you? After all the times that boy has saved your sorry ass. We're going after him"

"Fine." Nick sighed. "But if I hear one more story about Keith, I'll murder him myself!"

...

Ellis hid around the next alleyway corner, his chest moving up and down rapidly in panic. The Tank stopped and looked around for him, grunting. It was almost as if the Tank could smell fear because he found Ellis easily, swinging one of its great tree-trunk like arms at him, tossing him across the street like he was nothing but a doll. Ellis tried his best to get up, but the fall had stunned him. He lay down and closed his eyes tight, regretting leaving the group as the Tank lumbered closer and closer.

There was a loud FOOM sound and a flash of bright light. Ellis opened one eye to the sight of the Tank walking in circles and rubbing its face. "A flash bang grenade?" Ellis murmered to himself. "Well God damn...Who-?" Ellis stopped as he spotted a young woman sprinting towards him.

"Hey! Are you okay?" She asked in a very soft spoken voice helping Ellis to his feet.

"Yea, I'm okay." Ellis said, still watching the Tank swinging his arms and barely missing vehicles. The buildings were not as lucky.

"C'mon." The girl said, putting Ellis' arm over her shoulder. "The flash bang will ware off soon and he'll be mad."

"Just lucky I had my own eyes closed." Ellis stated as he limped away, one arm over he shoulder. He looked at her, taking short glances every couple of steps to avoid staring. He was instantly reminded of his chance encounter with Zoey at the bridge.

She glanced back at him, doing the same; short looks every couple of steps. She thought he was very handsome. As fate would have it, they looked at the same time. Blue met hazel. "Hi, uh… yeah…" The girl said choosing her words carefully. "I'm Stefanie by the way, Stefanie Overbeck." She didn't have an accent like Ellis', but if she was this far down she had to be from the South. "What's your name?"

"It's Ellis , ma'am." Ellis answered. "I'm from Savannah. I ran an auto shop with a couple of mah buddies… uh…. We were in a band!"

"Oh?" Stefanie said cocking an eyebrow. She seemed to show the out most interest in what Ellis had to say.

"I played bass. What's your story?" Ellis requested.

"I'm from Richmond, my family moved there when I was 13. I was born in Oklahoma. I lost my accent, but not the Southern spirit, I love the Midnight Riders if you can't tell by the shirt. I was a dancer up until the infection hit and the studio closed... Now my cousin and I have locked ourselves down in the abandoned vet clinic with some other people until this whole thing blows over. Where have you been staying?"

"Oh, well Nick, Ro, Coach and I have been traveling..." Ellis paused and his eyes went big. "Nick, Ro and Coach! I left 'em behind! They must be looking for me!"

"Damn straight, Ellis!" Nick shouted as he Rochelle and Coach came jogging down the street, out of breath. "We've been looking all over for you, overalls!" Nick paused and looked at Stefanie in a sleazy fashion that made her uncomfortable, her discomfort easily read by her facial expression.

"Nick." Rochelle whispered. "Don't stare at her! What's wrong with you?

"Ummm" Nick answered. He looked at Rochelle. "Look at her!"

Rochelle looked. "Oh my God. Nick there's no reason to stare"

"Ro… Nick stares at anything with breasts" Coach finished. Stefanie subconsciously covered her boobs with her hands.

"Ellis...They're scaring me..."

"Guys! Could you cut it out? Poor girls uncomfortable"

Rochelle blinked and walked over to Stefanie. "We're sorry...It's just...Never mind." She smiled. "I'm Rochelle."

"Ro, Nick, Coach." Ellis said to the group. "This is Stefanie. She saved me from the Tank with a flash bang grenade!"

"A _flash bang_?" Nick asked. Stefanie nodded and reached into the satchel at her hip, she pulled out the small, white can shaped object with a pin in the top and offered it to the con man. He took it and looked at it as if it was a priceless valuable. "How'd you find one?"

Stefanie huffed. "There's a shitload of them around here if you know where to look."

"I think I like freckles already." Nick said to Coach, elbowing him in the side.

Nick gave the grenade back to Stefanie. She reached into her bag to put it away, giving extra care not to open it very far. "Freckles?" She asked, raising an eyebrow to Nick.

"Yes...I called Ellis _Overalls_, your name is _Freckles_."

"Really, now?" Stefanie said, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. "What are their names?" She nodded her head towards Coach and Rochelle.

"That's Coach and Rochelle." Nick answered. Ellis and Stefanie looked at each other with unimpressed faces.

Ellis started to take his arm off of Stefanie's shoulder to walk by himself. He still hobbled, but he could walk. "I'm okay." He told Coach, who was ready to help him.

"That Tank sure got ya good." Stefanie said to Ellis. "You sure you'll be okay? Need another med kit? You used yours and I have more."

"It's happened before." Coach told her. "He'll just walk it off. He's a tough little youngin."

"You can all take a break once we get to our hideaway." Stefanie said as she started to walk towards her truck. "We should all be able to fit in my truck. It'll be a bit tight but it should be okay."

Ellis was expecting a standard 'pickemup truck' but was surprised to see a modified monster truck. He laughed with glee at the sight of Coach next to wheels almost as large as he was. Blood spattered the shiny hard-top, proof that it had met is fair share of zombies.

"OH MAN! This is awesome!" Ellis said gleefully as he jumped up into the passenger seat with some difficulty as he ignored his hurt leg. The others followed suit but Rochelle needed a leg up from Coach and it took Nick a couple of tries to climb up. They sat in the back seat, which was bolted into the roofless truck's box.

"Yeah, it'll take you a couple times to get it right." Stefanie said with a slight giggle.

"I guess crawling into a monster truck first try runs in the redneck gene." Nick muttered to Coach and Rochelle as Ellis and Stefanie laughed amongst themselves.

"Hey man, Midnight Riders!" Ellis exclaimed, finally paying attention to Stefanie's top.

"Yeah, I saw them in 07."

"Me too! Front row, center!" Ellis told her with pride. "Lost mah eyebrows."

"Oh, no way." Stefanie laughed. She started the truck and during the drive to the hideaway, Stefanie went out of her way to run over every zombie she saw and backing up to run over the ones that were trying to crawl away. Suddenly, Stefanie slammed on the breaks as a smell assaulted everyones nose.

"Stefanie. You okay?" Ellis asked, but she raised her hand to shush him.

"SMOKER!" Stefanie yelled as she slammed on the gas, burning out for a couple moments before zipping forwards. The Smoker didn't know what hit him as his face said 'Hello' to the front grill.

...

Twenty minutes and hundreds of flattened zombies later, the truck stopped at the _Valley Pets Veterinary Clinic. _Stefanie took the keys and put them in her satchel in the same manner as before. "Careful." She said. "Sometimes getting down is harder that getting up here."Nick, Rochelle and Coach watched with frustration as her and Ellis, the two rednecks, slid off the trucks sides and landed on their feet with ease. Nick landed on his knees, Rochelle landed on her behind and Coach full out did a face plant. "Might take a little practice." Ellis said.

Soon 3 people made their out of the vet clinic. Two young women a young man.

"Stefanie! You brought outsiders with you!" A tall dark-haired boy said.

"Yeah. This is Ellis, Nick, Rochelle and Coach. New friends." Stefanie said happily.

"Not new friends yet..." He replies said. "They must first pass a series of tests, each one more horrible than the last!"

"Oh, no...Xeno...Not this again..." Stefanie said, slapping her face.

"We all went through it!" The one identified as Xeno said. With one look at the hard look on Stefanie's face, he looked at the ground. "Fine...They can come in."

"I take it you're the ringleader?" Rochelle asked Stefanie.

"Not really." Stefanie replied. "We're a very collectivist group. We all take charge...I just make the better arguments."

"Makes sense." Nick stated, it was unclear whether he meant it or if he was being sarcastic.

Stefanie paused before she spoke again. "I'll take you all inside to meet the rest of the gang. This place is safe from zombies because they can't climb the electric fence. You can stay here with us as long as you like."

"Thank you, you're very kind." Rochelle said as her and the group followed Stefanie inside.

Stefanie shut the door and jumped as her satchel to seemed to twitch, as if something were moving on the inside. "Uh, Stefanie..." Nick pointed to it. "Did your bag just move?"

Stefanie went pale, and then her cheeks went red. "Oh, no...You must have been seeing things." She kept turning her hip to keep her bag behind her as if she thought someone would take it. "Anyways...Um, this is my cousin, Nikki...She'll introduce you all to the rest of our little family here...I...Would you all excuse me please?" She turned to the side slowly before quickly moving off to handle whatever seemed to important as to leave them with someone they didn't know. Within 20 seconds the survivors were stuck under the uncomfortable gaze coming from the aforementioned Nikki.

...

Chapter 2-REVISED

"Alright kids, keep up." Nikki told the survivors. "I'll give you the fifty cent tour." Ellis dug in the pockets of his baggy overalls, pulled out a light brown wallet and dug in the coin pocket. Nikki gave him this look that screamed 'you my good sir are a dumb shit' as Ellis produced two quarters and dropped them into the palm of her hand.

"Fifty cents...fer the fifty cent tour!"

Nikki slapped her face, but took the money and with a devilish smile on her face, looking to the others to also relinquish fifty cents. Grumbling towards Ellis, they did so.

Nikki brought them all to the old staff room, which was made into a living room. Four old couches were brought in (Rochelle's first guess was from the garbage dump) and placed in a neat rectangular pattern with an old coffee table in the center with carvings of things like 'Xeno rocks more than you' and 'Nikki is Hitler' all over it, like a fancy home with some run down appliances. One couch was occupied by Xeno, who was sprawled out, taking the whole thing up. The second couch had two, one man and one lady,whom Nikki identified as Ronnie and Dupree, sitting on it. Ronnie had her feet on the table in typical slob-like fashion. The third couch had two identified as Zack and Chuck and the fourth was unoccupied.

Nikki turned to them with the ferocity of a drill sergeant addressing a group of new cadets and began introducing everyone to each other.

"Nick, Ellis, Ro, Coach...This is Ronnie Pollard." The young brunette identified as Ronnie nodded at them to affirm that it her they were being introduced to.

"Hey."

"Dupree."

"Derrick Dupreeson to the ladies." He said, winking at Rochelle. One glance and it was easy to tell he could take anyone in a fight _and _get the ladies, what with his handsome face and blonde hair.

"Chuck."

"O'Riler is the name and football is the game." The southerner said smacking a fist against his palm.

"Football!" Coach said with renewed excitement "I like this kid already."

"Xeno." Nikki pointed out

"Xeno?" Ellis asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yes! Xenophobic they called me!" Xeno said, not moving a muscle from his reclining position. "I warned them all of the aliens and they never believed me! Well look what happened now!"

"They're zombies, Xeno." Ronnie said, rolling her eyes.

"Zombies, aliens, wolf men, whatever! They all exist!" Xeno stated, pointing a finger at Ronnie.

"Yeah, we already met you..." Nick said to Xeno and got no reply.

"Mister quiet riot over there is Zack." Nikki said, gesturing to Zack, who said nothing.

"What's wrong with him?" Rochelle asked.

"Nothing." Nikki answered. "He just hates talking."

"Why?"

"He never told us."

"Who are you guys?" Ronnie requested.

"Nick." The conman stated first.

"I'm Rochelle."

"My friends call me Coach and this is Ellis."

"Really? Were all your friends your students?" Dupree asked. "Creeper much?" Coach gave no reply.

Nikki sat on the empty couch. "Anyways...That's the fifty cent tour...If you wanna' explore, go nuts."

Rochelle seemed uneasy, as if she thought a zombie would get her if she wandered off alone. "Don't worry, Rochelle." Ronnie said. "This place is a like a big safe house."

"Not even! It's a freaking fortress!" Xeno interrupted excitedly. "Stefanie rewired the electricity to get the fence working again and...Have you ever seen a Charger getting shocked to death? Man, when this whole thing blows over and when AFV comes back on, I will win myself ten thousand dollars!"

"Stefanie seems like a smart girl" Rochelle said.

"Is she anti-social?" Coach asked.

"Hell no." Dupree answered. "That girl loves to talk...She just..."

"Stefanie also loves her alone time, I guess." Chuck added.

"You guess?" Ellis asked, tilting his head.

"Well, ya see...She's been only wantin' alone time for a few weeks now..." Chuck went on. "One minute she's all _blah blah blah_ all the time, the next she goes off to be alone for about an hour."

"_Blah blah blah_ all the time..." Nick breathed. "Reminds me of someone."

"Oh, you know what Nick? Go to Hell!" Ellis exclaimed.

...

Stefanie descended the stairs to find a group of laughing people. She was happy to see the new comers getting along with her friends so well. "So I told the greasy monkey to lower the bridge again and he just says: "Bite me!" Nick told the story of how he and the team met up with three more survivors, Louis, Zoey and Francis.

"Hey! Stefanie!" Ellis exclaimed, spotting her.

"Hi guys." She said, holding the strap of her satchel as she walked over to Ellis and sat in between him and Nick on the couch. "Glad to see you guys getting along."

"Yeah, they cool." Chuck said taking Ellis under his arm, almost crushing him.

"Lord Jesus and the Sheppard's!" Ellis breathed once he was freed. "You're big as a Tank."

Chuck stood up and flexed his muscles. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!" He screamed, making everyone laugh. He didn't stop there, he started stomping around. "Grr! Tank mad! Tank smash puny little man!" He picked up Zack over his head with one hand much to the poor boys discontent.

"CHUCK! NOT FUNNY! PUT ME DOWN!" Zack shouted in dismay.

"It talks!" Ellis gasped in mock surprise.

"SHUT UP HILLBILLY! THERE'S ENOUGH SOUTHERNERS AROUND HERE ALREADY!"

Chuck looked unpleased."That's it...You mess with the Tank, you get the muscles!" He carried Zack off and a few moments later, through multiple curse words, there was the distinct sound of a toilet flushing. Zack came stomping through the room moments later, calling Chuck more names anyone thought were in the dictionary. His hair was soaked. Everyone tried to hold it in, but they couldn't. They all had to laugh at the ridiculous sight. Ellis rolled on his but unfortunately for him, ended up falling off the couch. Chuck bowed to the laughing group. "Thank you. Thank you. I'm here till the infection is over."

...

"So, what do you guys do for fun around here?" Rochelle asked later on in the night.

"Lots of stuff." Ronnie answered. "If we had a good day fighting zombies while we get supplies, which we did today, we usually dance."

"You guys..._dance_? Seriously?" Nick sounded unimpressed.

"Stefanie is the best at it." Ronnie said.

"Duh...you think so?" Xeno exclaimed as if Ronnie was stupid. "She used to do it as a career before we...uh...the infection hit..."

Everyone just ignored Xeno's little mistake. Stefanie's bag spasmed again causing it to rub against Nick's side. He exclaimed and jumped up. "IT _DID_ MOVE! That time I'm sure it moved, damn it!"

"Uh...No...You must have been feeling things." Stefanie said, getting up slowly, holding the bags strap and backing away towards the stairs again. "Excuse me again, please." She dashed up the stairs and once everyone was distracted with conversation again, Ellis went up the stairs himself to find Stefanie and what she was hiding.

The stairs led Ellis to a hall with eight rooms, four on each side and a very big, square shaped window at the end. He looked out the window and saw the zombies standing idly around the fence. He chuckled when he saw a Jockey jump to the top of the very tall fence and spasm after he fell to the ground. Ellis heard Stefanie's voice in the room to his left. She was singing a soft song that if he tried really hard was probably one of the top 100 before the infection opened the door slightly and peered in to see Stefanie sitting on a cot, her bed and singing to a something in a blanket wrapped bundle in her arms. A baby? Ellis pulled his face away from the door and sat on the window sill. He wondered about Stefanie now. Was she married? Is she married? Is her husband or possibly boyfriend a zombie now? Was he interested in a single mother? Stefanie stopped singing and spoke. "That's funny...I thought I closed this..." She froze at the door when she saw Ellis.

Ellis smiled and waved innocently, like a child caught stealing a cookie before dinner time. "Hey Stefanie."

"Ellis?" Stefanie exclaimed through her teeth. "Get in here!" As Ellis rushed into the room and Stefanie closed the door behind him, the baby in the bundle felt her stress and started to fuss, making odd little noises.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him, pulling the blanket close to her chest, refusing to let Ellis see the baby's face.

"I was wonderin' what you were doin' and if you were okay." Ellis answered before his attention turned to the light blue blanket that Stefanie was protecting with her life. "I can't...Were ya hiding a baby the whole time!"

"Shh!" Stefanie shushed him. "Please." She added, tears in her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong? I was just gonna say that ya seemed so young to have a child...When was he born?"

"I don't know, Ellis...I adopted him." Stefanie started. "You see...when I was 16, as soon as I was done developing, ya know...I had a problem with my appendix, when I was in surgery, they found more complications. Particularly in my ovaries. I…uh… I can't necessarily have kids of my own" She started to cry, but tried to stop to keep the whimpering baby from crying. She bounced up and down to sooth it.

Ellis came closer and Stefanie held the bundle to her chest again. "What's wrong, Stefanie?"

Stefanie looked at Ellis with her bright eyes. "Ellis...Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." Ellis answered.

"Don't tell another living soul...Not even Nikki knows."

"You have my word as a gentleman, Stefanie." Ellis said. "I won't tell anyone."

Stefanie looked into his eyes and that he was honest and it gave her the courage to trust him. She exhaled slowly and brought the bundle away from her chest to show Ellis the child. Ellis jumped back at the sight of its grey mottled skin and eyeless sockets. It was at first glance terrifying, but oh so tiny. He was about scream, but Stefanie pushed him against the door pressing her hand against his mouth. "Ellis! Please no!" She begged, tears rolling down her cheeks now. Ellis pushed her hand away from his face. "Stefanie!" He breathed in between his teeth. "That's a God damn...Are you insane? How… is it alive? The infection is supposed to… ya know… be fatal to children."

"Yes, I know he's a Hunter...but he's just a baby. And I don't know… he just lived for some reason" Stefanie protested, holding him close.

"Stefanie...I was once a baby, you were once a baby, but you know what happened? We done grew up. We got bigger!"

"I know...I know...I'll just keep hiding him in my bag." She replied indignantly.

"Ya won't be able to hide him in yer bag when he's bigger than you are."

Stefanie seemed distressed. "I'll find another way...I'll...I'll teach him to hide..."

"Stef..." Ellis said, looking at her. He knew the main point of her stress. "I promise I won't tell anyone about him, so quit yer worryin'."

"Really?"

"Yea...The little tyke'll be our little secret so long as no one finds out he's here."

"Oh, Ellis!" She said, now jumping for joy. "Thank you. Thank you!" She smiled as Ellis looked at the Hunter that was no bigger than a loaf of Texas Toast bread, making rasping noises that sounded like non-successful attempts at the Hunter's growl. "Wanna hold him?"

Ellis shifted in place. "Hold him? Naw." Primal instinct said _no._

"Awe, c'mon. He ain't gonna bite ya." Stefanie said with a laugh. "He's a little sweetheart."

"Yea, but that little sweetheart will grow up to be a murderin' monster." Ellis replied. "Besides...I dunno the proper way to hold a baby anything."

"It's easy." Stefanie said. Ellis kept turning down her offer, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She took Ellis over to beside her bed and placed the bundle down on it. The baby Hunter squirmed at the change in surroundings. "Just put your arms like this..." Stefanie grabbed Ellis' arms and positioned them together and spun around to grab the Hunter.

Ellis was shaky, but let Stefanie put the child into his arms. "Ya'll swear to me now that he won't attack my face..."

"You'll be fine, Ellis." Stefanie said, slowly taking her own arms out from under the bundle. "Okay, honey. This is Ellis." She said sweetly. The tiny child aimed his face up at Ellis and made more little noises and squirmed slightly in the blanket, so Ellis, almost instinctively sat on Stefanie's bed and supported the bottom of the bundle with his lap.

Ellis didn't know what to say, so he looked at Stefanie and spoke: "Should I talk to it?"

"Of course." Stefanie laughed.

Ellis looked down at the content looking little infected. Stefanie hung over his shoulder. "Hey there little guy." He said to it, the Hunter child rasped in response. "You know, they're kinda cute when they're just bite sized." Ellis offered the bundle back to Stefanie and she accepted it.

She unbundled Hunter and let him scurry around. It was then Ellis saw that he was a little smaller than a house cat and crawled on all fours like a human baby. He scooted across the bed and crawled into Ellis' lap, like a cat but sat facing him like a human child would. Stefanie was beaming. "He likes you."[1]

Ellis smiled and patted the little infected on the head and Hunter cuddled against his chest and began to fall asleep. Ellis always thought that all the infected were dangerous and deadly and he didn't even know if they could have babies, but he knew one thing. This Hunter was going to be a secret, for Stefanie's sake.

...

[1] He's deciding whether or not to eat you later! XD


	2. Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3-REVISED

Just as he promised, Ellis kept what he knew a secret. Nightfall came fast and so did the groups next dilemma; where the newcomers were going to sleep.

"Well, we've been sleeping in the safe rooms together on one mattress for a while now." Rochelle stated honestly.

"Bullshit." Nick exhaled, getting everyone's attention.

"You're the one that ends up on the floor?" Chuck asked.

"You know it!" Nick answered. "And all that dust doesn't do my suit any favors."

Everyone had a short laugh (excluding Nick), before Rochelle went on."What I was saying is that Coach, Nick, Ellis and I are more than okay with sleeping all together."

"Well we do have that spare room." Ronnie stated, pointing. "It's just there."

"Fine." Nikki said. "They'll stay there."

When it was time to lock down the safe house and turn up the electric fence, everyone retreated into their room. The room Nick, Rochelle, Ellis and Coach got was fairly sized with a number of spare cots in the corner. The four each put down a cot for themselves.

"At least I'll be able to sleep without Overalls kicking me." Nick said, setting up his cot by the window. He sat on it and it gave way under his wait. Nick was sandwiched in between the folded mattress, cursing and squirming until Rochelle and Coach helped him. With a click, Ellis locked the springs on the bottom of the bed to prevent the action from repeating."Thanks." Nick growled.

"Okay everyone." Coach sighed, lying on his own cot. "Let's get some sleep."

It didn't take long to get used to the sound of zombies getting zapped. Soon, everyone managed to sleep to the sweet sound of sizzling flesh.

Ellis woke up to Coach snoring in his corner, Nick slightly snoring by the window and Rochelle quietly breathing through her nose by the door. Ellis slowly got up, put on his boots and crept passed the others and snuck out the door, closing it with small steps, he scurried down the hall to Stefanie's door, feeling like a ninja. He lightly knocked on it three times and then two more after a pause. Stefanie opened the door and let Ellis in with the hunter in her arms, it trying to get a hot dog in its mouth.

After a small growl Stefanie handed the little thing to Ellis, watching as he dug his tiny claws in Ellis' shirt."Awe. It jus' pains me to think that he's gonna grow up to be dangerous." Ellis said, placing his hand on the kids head.

"One of them, maybe...but maybe he won't be all that dangerous." Stefanie said. "What worries me is what'll happen if someone discovers him, cause I mean, he'll be big soon. He's already grown plenty since I picked him up."

"Where did ya pick 'im up at?"

Stefanie smiled as the hunter started to fall asleep in Ellis' arms. She turned to sit on her cot, placing her chin in her hand as Ellis followed suit.

"I found him a few weeks ago. Nikki, Chuck, Xeno and I were driving around the city in my truck and we went to a few grocery stores for supplies. I was walking around the outside of the store, ready to give the word if any infected were coming. Two Hunter's found me, I was scared, but couldn't scream because I would alert more zombies and Xeno was hurt at the time, so we couldn't afford a Hoard attack."I shot the two Hunters and then I started to hear squeaking noises that sounded like baby cries. So I went to a dumpster and I found that little guy under it. He stumbled into me because he can't see." Tears started to fall from Stefanie's eyes. "I shot his mother and father...I couldn't just leave him there to die to. I felt like I owe him...I'm the only family he has...He's the only baby I'll ever have..."

"Uh, Stefanie...I'm real sorry about. Really I am." Ellis said sympathetically.

"I'll be okay… it's just I've wanted a kid so bad since I found I never _could._"Stefanie started to tear again. "My step-dad… he uh… he laughed when he found out. He wasn't the nicest guy around and I _shouldn't _have let it bother me but I did. It got under my skin so when infected started finding their way into our neighborhood I took the last medical mask we had left. Ya' know the ones you use for spray painting?" Anger rose in her voice. "Me and him were the only ones left and I left him behind! When he started getting attacked I got in my truck and drove. I drove until his screams faded away. Until I was far away from him. I just drove..." She got up and walked over to the window and looked out at the zombie getting zapped by the fence. He fell, looked at the fence and then walked off. "I don't know what happened to him and I don't care. I just hope it was painful..."

Ellis gently put Hunter down on the cot and he slept quietly."I'm so sorry, Stefanie. I never shoulda brought it up."

"No, you didn't know." Stefanie said, looking at him. "And I needed that anyway, to kind of vent."She looked up into his eyes and again blue met hazel. Stefanie took off her cap and placed it on the window sill, looking down from Ellis' gaze. "What happens just happens for a reason, I guess."

"That's what my mother always told me[1]." Ellis said, taking Stefanie's soft hand in his own. "She said 'Ellis...Everything happens for a reason...So cherish every moment of yer life, good an' bad'."

"I like the way your mother thinks." Stefanie breathed, blushing from the fact that a very handsome man was holding her hand. "I do cherish every moment...When I found Nikki and the others in the airport in Atlanta...I started to think everything was turning around...But there was this one moment not long ago when I started to know things were turning around." She stopped.

"Well what moment was that?" Ellis asked. "The moment ya found this hunter?"

"No...The moment I met you." Stefanie looked up into Ellis' eyes again. She swallowed and thought if she didn't tell him now, she never would. "I think...I know we've only known each other for a day...But I think I'm falling in love with you."

Ellis was speechless. Stefanie brought it on him pretty quick. He wrapped his arms around Stefanie a flush of pink over took the color of her cheeks. Ellis moved his face closer to hers, waiting for Stefanie's next action, which was to slowly remove Ellis' cap and place it by hers. She ran her fingers through his dark, curly hair and wrapped her arms around his neck. When their lips touched, heat rushed through Stefanie's body and Ellis could feel the heat through her shirt when he placed his hands on her back. He didn't want to blow it by touching her in a place she didn't want to be touched while Ellis was still technically a they parted, Stefanie felt like she'd just stepped out of a very warm place, like a sauna or a tanning bed into the cool air. Ellis looked at her."That felt right." He said, breathlessly. "That felt real right."

The next morning, Ellis' cot was kicked over by Nikki and he looked up from under his mattress to see that she'd done the same to Coach and Rochelle. She was moving to Nick."NICK! WATCH OUT!" Ellis cried.

Nick shot up."Who? What? When? Where?"Nikki still flipped over his cot and sent him tumbling to the floor and his pillow, blanket, sheets and mattress falling over him. "What the Hell is your problem?" He shouted.

"It's time to get up." She said, smiling deviously.

"Well a simple "Get up", bell, whistle or even a siren would have sufficed!" Nick snapped as the other three were getting to their feet, yawning, stretching, whatever they needed to do.

"That's not my style." Nikki said. "I don't knock on any doors no matter who it is."

Nick went red with frustration when he heard four knocks and Nikki yell at Stefanie."Uppy uppy time, Steffi!"

"Out in a minute" Stefanie replied through the closed door and Nikki scampered down the stairs."ARG! Army bitch!" Nick exclaimed with rage.

Ellis laughed and Nick turned around."What's so funny, Overalls?"

"Oh, I'll tell ya what's so funny, Nick." Ellis said. "You like her!"

"Awe...Nick and Nikki." Rochelle exclaimed, putting her hand on her heart.

"Shut up!" Nick yelled. "All of you! I wouldn't touch that commando bitch with a ten foot pole!" He stormed out.

Coach, Rochelle and Ellis laughed like a bunch of junior high school students. They came out and met Stefanie. As she walked passed them all and bid them good morning, Rochelle noticed the look her and Ellis were giving each other."Ellis." Rochelle asked him to stay on the top of the stairs with her as Coach followed Stefanie down.

"What's up, Ro?"

"It seems to me, Ellis...that Nick isn't the only one crushing." Rochelle said, talking to Ellis like he was a trouble making child.

Ellis blushed."Well, Stefanie is awf'ly perdy."

"Yes she is, sweetie." Rochelle said, putting her hand on Ellis' shoulder. "And as kind as she is...You just met her...We don't know much about her and her friends."

Ellis nodded."Okay, Rochelle. I see where yer goin' with this..."

"I thought you would..." Rochelle said with a smile.

They went down stairs to Xeno and Chuck making breakfast. Xeno was wearing a large chef's hat and Chuck was wearing a pink apron that read: _Screw You! This Is Manly_! In dark blue letters in the front."Hey, Chuck...Who wears the pants in your relationship?" Nick asked with a laugh.

"Screw you, Coronal Sanders!" Chuck snapped, waving a wooden spoon in Nick's direction.

"God Damn it! Why does everyone call me that?"

"You don't know why?" Nikki asked, laying on her side of the couch. Nick gave no reply.

"Wipe that smile of your face, Overalls." He said to Ellis. "You too, Freckles!" He added to Stefanie, who smiled after Ellis whispered something to her.

Chuck and Xeno prepared something that looked like ground beef for brunch with some vegetables mixed in. It looked very unappealing, but it tasted suprisingly different. The survivors commented about how good it was. Chuck and Xeno gushed and told about their numerous fails at cooking and Stefanie, Nikki, Ronnie and Dupree shuddered from the memories. Zack did nothing.

"What is this, guys?" Rochelle asked, taking another bite.

"Well...You know how many hate Jockeys?" Xeno started.

"Well, we love them...the little leprechauns are magically delicious!" Zack finished.

Nick, Coach, Rochelle and Ellis froze, looking at the food in horror and the others started laughing.

"We're just messing with you!" Stefanie laughed. "Its ground beef from the grocery store!"

"Salmonella free." Nikki added.

"I think I'm full." Nick said.

"I'm not." Ellis said, innocently. "Ya'll gonna eat that Jockey beef meat?"

Stefanie giggled at his comment and Nikki looked at her as Ellis and winked.

...

[1] mama always told me life was like a box of chocolates XD

...

Chapter 4-REVISED 

After brunch, Nick approached Stefanie and asked if they had any maps."We really need to get to New Orleans." He stated when questioned as to why he could possibly need a map.

"You're leaving?" Stefanie asked, sounding down-hearted. The idea of Ellis leaving didn't sit too well with her.

"Leavin'? I dun wanna leave, Nick." Ellis said, giving her a glance, to which she smiled.

Nick hesitated and Stefanie approached him."Nick...We have lots of room and its safe here." She said.

"I don't know, Freckles." Nick replied. "We already decided to go to New Orleans..."

"For what?" Rochelle asked. "A city that could be as much as we know destroyed too by now?"

"I agree with Ro, Nick." Coach said. "We got shelter here, friends, food[1]. This place is a safe haven for survivors."

After much coaxing, Nick grudgingly said that he, Rochelle, Ellis and Coach would stay if Stefanie and her friends would allow them to. Needless to say the others were nearly jumping for joy.

"I say hell yea!" Stefanie said, jumping.

"I could care less." Nikki exhaled, turning away.

"Well, they're not aliens, so they're okay by me." Xeno waved his hand.

"Sure, these three can stay!" Chuck stated, gesturing to Ellis, Rochelle and Coach. Nick frowned.

"Whatever." Zack trailed, looking at the ceiling.

"Of course they can stay!" Ronnie exclaimed. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Dupree shrugged. "I second Zack's motion. Whatever."

"Then it's agreed!" Stefanie exclaimed, just stopping herself from tackling Ellis. "They're staying!" Everyone seemed happy...or neutral, but no one seemed disappointed.

* * *

As the weeks passed, the little hunter began to grow and the two started to struggle to keep him hidden. For a while Ellis managed to pass him off as a pile of pillows when he threw a blanket over him right before Nick opened Stefanie's door."What are you doing in here, Overalls?" Nick asked.

"Lookin' fer Stefanie." Ellis replied, repeatedly pulling the blanket over the foot that kept trying to poke out the back of the pillow pile. "What are _you_ doin'?"

"Same as you. We need supplies and thus a driver." Nick replied, he noticed that Ellis kept bending towards the 'pile of pillows'. "What's so interesting over there, Overalls?" He started to walk towards the cot, but Ellis threw himself at Nick and pushed him out of Stefanie's room.

"Nothin', Nick...Nothin' at all!" He said erratically. "I'll wait here fer Stefanie and let her know that yer lookin' fer her!" He slammed the door shut and looked at the small, but growing hunter, he'd ripped a hole in the blanket and his hooded head was sticking out of the hole. Ellis sighed. "Yer a real hand full, ya know that?" He picked up the moderately sized infected and Stefanie's knock sounded from the door before she came in, shutting the door quickly.

"Hey Ellis." She said, sounding winded.

"Hey Stefanie...Where were ya?"

She sounded nervous."Oh, nowhere...Around..."

"Nick's lookin' fer ya." Ellis said, giving Hunter to his mama.

"I know...I ran into him on the way up the stairs." Stefanie said, putting hunter down. "He doesn't seem like a very happy guy."

"Eh, he grows on ya." Ellis replied, as the hunter playfully tugged on his pant leg. He seemed happy that his overalls were much easier to grip than Stefanie's skinny jeans. "Much like this little guy."He patted the hunter on the head. He was now as big as the average 6 year old child, which meant he was growing fast considering the three week period since he was smaller than a large loaf of bread.

As Stefanie and Ellis left the room, Stefanie picked up the baby Hunter and snuggled him. "Mama will be back soon, baby." She said, with a light Southern accent that made Ellis smile. She'd been around his contagious accent for a bit too long.[2]

* * *

Stefanie drove over zombies with Ronnie, Nick, Coach and Xeno in the back seat, Ellis up front with her. Beside Stefanie's monster truck was a smaller, 4X4 pickup truck_. _Chuck was driving, Rochelle was in the passenger seat and Zack, Dupree and Nikki rode in the box, hitting zombies as they passed with baseball bats. The trucks blared a different song from their stereos as the hit and run went on and some zombies started to scramble towards them stupidly. Stefanie laughed as the infected were killed to the tune of southern rock. "Killing 'em sweetly this song!"[3]A loud thump sounded as a Smoker jumped on the hood of Chuck's truck, her tongue scraping the dirty wind-sheild. Rochelle screeched because she'd never seen a Smoker like that before. She was clearly a teenage girl at one time. She wore dirty and worn jeans and canvas shoes, her shirt was stretched down her one, blistery shoulder. She was just as disgusting as any other smoker, both her eyes were milky white and her skin was pasty with green blisters. A true sight to behold.

"I've seen a female Boomer! But not a Smoker!" Nick yelled from Stefanie's truck as Zack gripped his baseball bat and crawled onto the roof of the truck. Chuck told Rochelle to hang on and took a heavy swerve to the side, sending the Smoker crashing to her shoulder and off the hood, and Zack off the roof completely. Dupree and Nikki managed to keep their balance, even as Chuck slammed on the breaks and looked at the Smoker, caring less about Zack.

"FUCK! CHUCK!" Zack cussed.

"Sorry about that, Zack!" Chuck said, seeing the Smoker holding herself up with her arms and wheezing. "AH! DIE BITCH!" He said, putting the truck in reverse and slamming on the gas. Rochelle hit her forehead on the dash and Nikki ended up butt checking Dupree into the back window. Zack rolled to the right to avoid the tires going for his shoulders, cussing again[4].Chuck ran over the Smoker's stomach and she shrieked breathlessly before emitting her smoke cloud with a poof.

"Nice one Chuck!" Xeno exclaimed from the box of Stefanie's truck. "You killed the ugly alien!"

"Since when has there been chick Smokers?" Coach asked.

"There are both genders of all the aliens." Xeno told him.

"Excluding the Witches of course." Ronnie stated. "Those are all female. PMS and all."

"Aw Hell!" Ellis shook, envisioning a female Jockey.

A deep voice sounded."Where'd the ugly vampire go?" A burly man in a leather vest was seen rounding the corner. One look at his grumpy face and Ellis instantly recognized him.

"Hey! Francis!" Ellis exclaimed waving.

"Oh, shit." The one identified as Francis said to himself. "I thought we got rid of him." He seemed unhappy until he saw Rochelle step out of Chuck's truck. He wanted to address her, but he chose to keep his bad boy reputation and kept silent. No need to look like a sissy in front of his lady.

Zoey rounded the corner after Francis with Louis right behind her, his white shirt seemingly glowing in the gloom."Did I hear Ellis?" she called out, confused.

"Hey Zoey!" Ellis said waving, Stefanie's stomach dropped out from her abdomen as she sat behind the wheel. Coach looked over and noticed her knuckled glaring white from gripping the steering wheel.

She watched as Ellis slipped down from the truck and Zoey gently wrapped her arms around him. She could see her quietly greet him and heard Ellis' raucous laugh in response. Everyone else jumped down, but Stefanie stayed in her seat.

"Aren't you coming down, Stefanie?" Nick asked as if he could _actually_ care.

"No. I'm okay." She replied, looking straight ahead, trying to avoid looking at the two. She then looked at Chuck, who was poking the Smoker's corpse with his toe. "Chuck...Can you fit everyone in the back of your truck?"

"I fit three Tank corpses in the back of this baby!" Chuck replied. "Sure I can!"

"Okay." She said putting the truck into reverse with a little resistance in the clutch. Tires screeched as she put her foot down on the gas too fast to leave, emotions running rampant. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye and she cursed herself for letting any tears loose.

**...**

**[1] Cant argue with Coach and his food :D**

**[2] If I play Left 4 Dead for too long… I develop a southern accent**

**[3] Bleep-bloop you got an acheivement**

**[4] POOF! I'm a fairy! May can I take your order?**


End file.
